Winter Kept Us Warm
by Nofio
Summary: Elizabeth has a nighttime wardrobe issue. Meliodas is surprisingly considerate. Mostly.


"Augh!"

Meliodas looked over from where he sat on the edge of the bed, having just finished changing into his nighttime shirt and shorts. Through the changing screen, he could see the outline of Elizabeth holding a piece of cloth in front of her, "What is it?"

Elizabeth peeked around the edge of the plain white screen and slowly held her hand out. The offending bit of brown cloth was held limply for his perusal. A slow and steady drip of dirty water fell on the floor. "My nightgown," she sniffed, heat high on her cheeks, "it's all muddy!"

"Huh," Meliodas scratched the back of his head. He tried to remember what might have happened to Elizabeth's defenseless nightgown. He was certain he hadn't been the offending party, given that he was a thousand times more likely to have another go at snatching Elizabeth's underwear than try and ruin her much-beloved nightclothes.

"Oh!" Meliodas smacked the bottom of his fist into his palm, "I saw Ban chasing Hawk around the river today."

"Eh? Now that you mention it…" Meliodas could see the wheels turning in Elizabeth's head. They had settled the restaurant near a thin, winding river this time. It had been too shallow to hold interest for much beyond fishing for everyone else, but Hawk had taken the opportunity to wallow in some of the shallower mud. He was normally fastidious about his cleanliness, but had gotten into a disagreement with Ban that resulted in the latter chasing the former throughout the restaurant before heading back outdoors. It had taken a couple hours to clean up the resultant mess, but somehow the nightgown must have been overlooked until just now, much too late for it to be possible to have it cleaned and dried before bed.

"Is your bag with you? Do you have a spare?" Meliodas asked solicitously.

Elizabeth slowly shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes, "I packed one… but I had to scrap it for bandages last week!"

Meliodas winced and tried to come up with a solution that would appease Elizabeth's modesty. Of course, all of his clothes were too small, and Diane's were too big. Ban, King, and Gowther each only kept one outfit for varying reasons.

Since Elizabeth obviously felt none of her other outfits would work for sleep clothes, only one option was left. Meliodas rubbed the back of his hand his under his nose to check for blood, but thankfully the most obvious physical reactions to indecent thoughts had stopped registering with him ages ago, and his hand came back dry. He took a deep breath and turned around so his back was to the screen.

"Just get under the covers," Meliodas said.

"Eh!" There was a small crash as Elizabeth stumbled into something. "But, I'll only be in my…"

Meliodas smiled to himself. Only Elizabeth would take it in stride most every time he grabbed her breast or put his head under her skirt, but balk at sleeping in just her panties and bra.

"Don't worry," he elaborated, "I'll sleep on top of the blankets tonight. I won't look."

"Oh, well…" Meliodas heard a mad dash and the rustle of blankets as Elizabeth dove under the blankets. He waited a minute to make sure she seemed to have settled in bed, then let himself fall backward on top of the covers. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes until he heard Elizabeth whisper, "this is so uncomfortable."

Meliodas turned his head to the side. Elizabeth had the covers pulled up to her chin, her face was red. He waited until she caught his eyes then said, with a smile, "if you are so uncomfortable sleeping this way, I would be happy to assist with the removal of your bra and panties!"

Elizabeth let out a small screech and pulled the blankets over her head, "No Lord Meliodas, this is fine, thank you!"

"Eh, if you say so." Meliodas watched the lump that was Elizabeth for a while longer. At first she seemed tense, stiff, but after a while she slowly relaxed, until eventually he could see from the rise and fall of the blankets that she had likely fallen asleep. Meliodas carefully pulled the blankets down just far enough that her face was not covered, and stared at her for a long time before slowly beginning to nod off himself.

He made a note to not sit in bed too long tomorrow, so nobody else would try to wake them up. If Hawk found out about this, Meliodas would be stuck sleeping in ropes again for months.


End file.
